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ROME AND GENEVA: 

A LETTER 

TO THE 

Eev. MM. Merle D'Anbigne and Buiigener, 

PROTESTANT MINISTERS OF GENEYA; 

BY A 

/ 

Young Student of Law, (M. Fontaine.) 

Post Tenebras, lux. 

Translated feom the Feench. 



WITH AN INTEODUCTION 



By M. J. SPALDIJN'a, D.D. 



Archbishop oe Baltimore. 



BALTIMORE:' 

Feinted and Published by John Muephy & Co. 

182 Baltimore Street. 
New York : . , . Catholic Publication Society, 

No. 9 Warren Street. 

18 71. 



^ CONGRESS 



®ntereir attorbing to ^ci at Congms, in tl^e ^tnx 1871, bg John Murphy & Co., 
in tl^e eDf&« of ll^e librarian of Congms, at Masl&ington, 



ROME AND GENEVA. 



IKTEODUCTION. 

While the Right Eev. Dr. Mermillod, the indefatigable 
Auxiliary Bishop of Geneva, was absent at the Vatican Coun- 
cil, the ministers of Geneva, under the leadership of Merle 
D'Aubigne and Bungener, delivered a series of lectures against 
the Catholic Church, with a view, probably, of diminishing 
or thwarting the influence of the great Council. These lec- 
tures contained nothing new; they merely dealt, for the thou- 
sandth time, in the old staple of misrepresentation and special 
pleading, to which the instructed Catholic had been long 
accustomed, and for which he was fully prepared with a suit- 
able reply. Still, as the wolves were seeking to devour the 
lambs of the flock, in the absence of the shepherd, the zeal of 
a young Catholic student of law, in Geneva, was aroused, and 
in reply he addressed to the two ministers a Letter, which we 
have had translated for re-publication in this country. We 
were induced to take this step, partly because our old acquain- 
tance, Merle D^Aubigne, was concerned, and partly because 
the subject-matter of the Letter itself, making due allowance 
for the youth and inexperience of the writer, is well- worthy 
of perusal. For reasons which will readily occur to every 
reader, no answer whatever was furnished by the ministers to 
the terse and stringent arguments contained in this Letter. 

We will introduce it with some remarks on the city of 
Geneva, where we recently spent some most agreeable days 
of vacation after the labors of the Council, referring chiefly to 



4 



its present and past religious condition. Geneva and Berne 
may be regarded as the great religious centres of Swiss Pro- 
testantism; but the history of the former is much more varied 
and interesting than that of the latter. It is not the first time 
in the history of the last three centuries, that Geneva has 
placed herself in antagonism with Rome, though her religious 
prestige is now almost gone. 

Geneva is a beautiful city, with about forty-five thousand 
inhabitants. It is situated on both sides of the Rhone, where 
this river, after having formed lake Leman, comes gushing 
out of the lake, on its impetuous course towards the South of 
France. Its position is, in this respect, similar to that of 
several other Swiss cities, which are built on sites equally pic- 
turesque and refreshing. Thus, Zurich is situated on the river 
Limat, as it leaves the beautiful lake of Zurich ; Luzerne, on 
the Preuss, as it emerges from the lake of the Four Cantons; 
and Interlacken, on the Aar, at the point where this river con- 
nects the two lakes of Brientz and Thun. There is something 
peculiarly cheering in the rushing of living waters, especially 
when, as is the case with all those above named, the streams 
are as pure and limpid as chrystal, and almost as rapid as tor- 
rents in their movement. All that is wanting to the com- 
pleteness of the picture is the absence or scarceness of trees 
along the margin of the w^aters, which is especially the case at 
Geneva. The eye instinctively looks for green foliage in 
the vicinity of the limpid streams. 

Geneva, with its surrounding country extending but a few 
miles in every direction along the Rhone and both borders of 
the lake, has constituted the twenty-second Canton of the 
Swiss Confederation since the year 1815, when the French 
government gave up the department of the Leman, which it 
had held since the revolution. For many centuries it had 



5 



been a free city, with its franchises extending far back into the 
middle ages. It owed all its liberties and privileges to the 
good old Catholic times; and they were placed under the spe- 
cial guardianship of its prince Bishops, who for centuries had 
defended them against the attempted encroachments of the 
Dukes of Austria and Savoy, thus performing for Geneva, 
without bloodshed, and through moral influence only, what 
William Tell and his associates achieved by arms, at Morgar- 
ten, for the mountain Cantons. The mild sway of the Bishops 
of Geneva proved a source of innumerable blessings, during 
long centuries, to the city of Geneva. 

Then came the reformation, so called. This revolution 
began by throwing off the mild yoke of the prince Bishop, 
and it was soon followed by his banishment and the confis- 
cation of his property, together with that of the Catholic 
churches, monasteries, and convents. The clergy were ban- 
ished, after having been grievously persecuted, the convents 
of the nuns were invaded by ruthless mobs, and these poor 
women, whose lives had been passed in solitude and prayer, 
were driven out into the streets, and hunted like wild beasts 
from the hitherto free city. The altars were overturned, 
master-pieces of painting and statuary were destroyed, and in 
the midst of all this abomination of desolation the reformed 
service was performed by new comers, wdiose faces, like their 
meagre and jarring creeds, w^ere unfamiliar and saddening to 
the astounded people. Geneva became the theatre of civil 
turbulence and endless bloody broils. Its past peace and 
liberties had given place to present anarchy and open tyranny. 

^s'ext succeeded the iron theocracy of John Calvin, which, 
in the name of religious reformation and liberty, crushed out 
the last sparks of both civil and religious freedom, and set up 
in their stead a system of blue laws, in comparison with which 



6 

the code of our own Puritans, in New England, was mild and 
harmless! Patriots who had the courage to cry out for a por- 
tion of their time-honored civil franchises were stigmatized as 
Libertines, were imprisoned, and either executed at the block 
or ruthlessly banished from the city. Church and state were 
united, and one legislation controlled both, and that legisla- 
tion was the expressed will and wish of John Calvin, himself 
a Frenchman and a foreigner, banished from his own country 
for what were deemed amply sufficient reasons. Against his 
iron and heartless sway, Gentilis, Grouet, Castalio, and hun- 
dreds of other patriots, rose up in vain; all opposition was 
crushed out in blood, or by terrible pains and penalties. The 
civil councils became but the organs, instruments, and execu- 
tioners of the religious Consistory, presided over and directed 
by John Calvin. At his instigation, Michael Servetus was 
burnt at the stake, while the heartless theocrat gloated over 
his death writhings, and derided his sufferings as the hel- 
lo wings of a Spanish bull.'' And yet, Servetus did but 
logically carry out, according to his lights, the principle of 
private judgment in matters of religion, upon which his very 
executioner professed to base his entire system of reformation ! 

Geneva has been called the Protestant Pome, on account of 
its having been for so long a period the headquarters of the 
opposition to the Catholic Peligion. But it is Protestant 
Rome no longer, simply because it has ceased to be Protestant 
in any proper sense of the term. Nearly one-half of the city, 
and considerably more than half of the Canton is now Catho- 
lic ; while nine-tenths of the remaining portion has gone off 
into the ranks of Unitarianism and Rationalism, the latter 
verging on downright infidelity. The name of John Calvin 
is now seldom heard, and his last resting place is utterly 
unknown ; and the same may be said of his predecessors and 



7 



co-workers of iniquity under the mask of religion, — Yiret, 
Farel, and others. Their memory is wholly gone, their very 
names have well nigh perished. The principal and real non- 
Catholic patron Saints of Geneva are, Jean Jacques Rousseau, 
a native of the city, who has a statue erected to him on an island 
of the Rhone, in a position prominent and central, and Vol- 
taire, a foreigner, the philosopher of Fernex, in the immediate 
vicinity ; while the secondary patrons may be said to be two 
other infidel foreigners. Gibbon and Byron. You hear the 
names of these worthies at every step of your progress through 
Geneva, and along the borders of the beautiful lake Leman. 
Servetus, the Socinian, has been amply avenged, on the very 
spot of his martyrdom, by the very children of his fierce 
executioner ! 

A spasmodic, though really very feeble elFort, has indeed 
been lately made by Merle D'Aubign6 and his associates to 
revive in Geneva what is called Evangelical Protestantism. 
But it has hitherto met with very slight results, and it is likely 
to have still less success in the future. As we have already 
intimated, it has as yet gained over, or rather retained, not 
more, probably, than one-tenth of the non-Catholic population; 
and it is likely that in a very few years more, it will not be able 
to retain even one-tenth of this small minority. The tendency 
of Genevan Protestantism, like that of Protestantism every- 
where else, is downward instead of upward ; it gravitates 
towards the abyss of doubt and unbelief, rather than elevates 
itself to the bracing heights and the sublime summit level of 
Christian truth. The rebound from Genevan Calvinism to 
Genevan Kationalism was indeed startling, but, considering 
the weakness of unaided human reason pufied up with its own 
pride of self-sufficiency, it was not so unnatural, or even so 
very illogical as it might appear at first sight. The active and 



« 



8 



elastic human mind, crushed down under the weight of iron 
Calvinism, not unnaturally sprang up again when the pres- 
sure was withdrawn ; and having once rebounded and felt its 
shackles removed, It was inclined to assert its freedom from 
all restraint whatsoever, and to revel in the new born luxury 
of its own unfettered speculations and theories. Thus, Rous- 
seau and Voltaire were a terrible, but a very natural sequel to 
John Calvin. 

Accordingly, we find that in Geneva the Protestant churches 
are usually called temples ; a not unsuitable designation for 
houses of worship dedicated to what may be called, without 
any exaggeration or breach of charity, a system of vague and 
bald Christianity dashed with a revived paganism, Plato, 
Socrates, and Epictetus might well preach in these temples, if 
they could only school themselves — which they might readily 
do — to speak respectfully of Christ, as a great reformer and 
philosopher. 

Many of the old Catholic churches in Switzerland, desecra- 
ted though they have been for centuries by Protestant service, 
are still grand in their proportions and exquisite in their 
architecture. In fact, it may be said that, in many places, 
the grandest edifices of Protestant Switzerland are precisely 
those which were erected by Catholics in the olden time, and 
which at the time of the reformation were violently wrested 
from their descendants for the purposes of Protestant worship. 
Witness the magnificent old Catholic Cathedral of Lausanne, 
and the scarcely less magnificent Cathedral of St. Peter's in 
Geneva. We shall never forget the impression made upon 
us on our visit to the latter. Stripped of its altars, its j^aint- 
ings and statuary, it appeared to us a grand picture of desola- 
tion, a temple instead of a church, a shell without a kernel, 
a body without a soul ! How our heart sunk w^ithin us at the • 



• 



9 



sad spectacle of desecration, especially when, in reply to our 
implied question, while we pointed to the empty and desolate 
sanctuary and said, " there once stood the high altar ! the 
elderly female sexton said, with a lurid smile worthy of John 
Calvin, " we Protestants have no altar ! " Cold walls and 
empty benches — that was all. We felt aroused in omr souls a 
zeal similar to that which our dear Lord exhibited, when he 
drove the traffickers out of the holy temple. And here, 
within these hallowed walls, which once resounded with the 
Gloria in Exeelsis and the Psalms of David, are now heard but 
lifeless canticles and sermons filled with the platitudes of So- 
cinianism and Rationalism ! God and Christ has been driven 
from His own holy sanctuary, and m«n, with his pigmy but 
grandiloquent humanitarianism, has been enthroned in His 
place ! And this thing has been called reformation ! 

From the church of John Calvin we went to his house, and 
here our spirits were suddenly refreshed. What a change, and 
how unexpected by us until we found ourselves on the very 
spot ! The Sisters of Charity, with their angelic ministrations, 
now occupy the ample residence, where the once great apostle 
of uncharity had his abode, and where he planned his heartless 
system ! Hundreds of Catholic children now fill the religious 
schools taught by them, and receive in the very salons of Cal- 
vin the elements of a sound Catholic education ! Time hath 
wrought a wondrous change. 

Better days have happily dawned on Geneva. God has 
raised up an apostle, who is a worthy successor of St. Francis 
de Sales. Monsignor Mermillod has already built two splendid 
churches, one of them the spacious Gothic Cathedral of Notre 
Dame, and the other the large parish church of St. Joseph ; 
and he is completing a third dedicated to God under the 
special patronage of St. Francis de Sales. Add to these the 
2 



10 



old parish church of St. Germain, restored to Catholic worship 
by the French while they held Geneva, and we have four 
spacious Catholic parish churches in the city itself, besides 'a 
greater number in the immediate vicinity. This church of 
St. Germain was the first one seized on by the reformers, and 
it is the first one — and perhaps it will be the last — restored to 
Catholic worship. Catholics will willingly build their own 
churches, so fast as these may be needed. Restitutions of this 
or any other kind are unusual in Protestant history; and that 
of St. Germain accordingly was not njade by Protestants, but 
by the French government, apparently in spite of them. The 
■contrary precisely has been the usual course of events ; and it 
was not without a meaning irony, that a non-Catholic gentle- 
man of Geneva once remarked to a zealous Genevan Protest- 
ant, who bitterly complained of the activity of Monsignor 
Mermillod in erecting new CathoKc churches : — " Let him 
alone ; he is doing very well ; we can take them for our own 
use hereafter when we will need them ; it is much cheaper for 
us to have him build our churches ! 

We are told by Protestant tourists through Switzerland, 
that the Protestant are far superior to the Catholic Cantons in 
culture, productiveness, and general prosperity ; and that, in 
fact, the difference is so marked that a traveller may know at 
a glance when he passes from the one into the other. Sup- 
posing this to be the case, what would it prove ? It might 
perhaps show that Protestants, thinking more of this world 
than of the next, pay more attention to accumulating the good 
things of earth than Catholics, and therefore succeed better ; 
which would be rather a compliment to the Catholics than 
otherwise. Those who seek only this world may better suc- 
ceed in finding what they seek ; but a divine Voice has uttered 
the solemn and startling declaration — which they would do 



11 



well to lay to heart — "They have received their reward!'^ 
Christ did not certainly establish His Religion to enable men 
to lay up, more easily and abundantly, treasures on this 
earth ! 

But is the fact really as stated? "We think not. We 
believe that whatever difference exists between the Catholic 
and Protestant Cantons, in point of culture and progress, may 
be fairly traced to other causes than that of difference of Re- 
ligion. In general, it may be said, that at the period of the 
reformation, so called, and thereafter, the Protestants took 
possession of the plains which constituted the most fertile por- 
tion of Switzerland, leaving to the Catholics the mountainous 
and therefore least productive portion ; or, to speak more ac- 
curately, that the inhabitants of the plains, being already more 
wealthy and probably more worldly-minded and corrupt, 
became Protestants ; w4iile those of the mountains, for a con- 
trary reason, remained steadily attached to the old faith of 
their fathers. We believe the impartial tourist will come to the 
conclusion, that, other things being equal, there is very little, 
if any difference, between the general appearance and cultiva- 
tion of the two classes of Cantons. We ourselves passed 
through eleven out of the twenty-two Cantons, and we could 
remark no striking difference of the kind referred to. In a 
single day we went rapidly from Geneva to Zurich ; passing 
successively through the Cantons of Vaud (Protestant,) Frei- 
burg (Catholic,) Berne (Protestant,) Basel (mixed,) Soleure 
(majority Catholic,) and Zurich (Protestant;) and we could 
discover no such difference as that stated by Protestant tourists. 
The boundaries of the Cantons were marked by no such indi- 
cations as are so often alleged ; and we would have defied any 
one, from any such pretended difference of culture, to point 
out the line of transition from one Canton into the other. 



12 



Passing from the plains into the mountains the tourist is 
forcibly struck, not merely by the bold and picturesque scenery, 
but also by the hardy industry and persevering toil by which 
lands so very unpromising could be rendered even partially 
productive. Scarcely a spot is seen, even on the acclivities of 
the bleakest hills or mountains, which does not show the 
triumph of patient labor over the barren ruggedness of the 
soil. We do not so much wonder that these mountain dis- 
tricts are so little cultivated, as that they are cultivated at all. 
Those bold mountaineers are Catholics almost to a man ; and 
it was their fathers, the men of Sweitz, Uri, Unterwalden, and 
Zug, who were the first pioneers of Swiss nationality, and the 
founders of Swiss independence and freedom. All honor to 
them for their hardy courage and patriotism, but chiefly for 
their steadfast adherence to the grand old Religion of their 
fathers ! 

Geneva, October 10, 1870. 



P. S. It is a most remarkable fact, that since the sacrilegious invasion 
of Rome, and the virtual imprisonment of the benevolent and noble Pon- 
tiff, Pius IX., Geneva has shown herself to be, at present, no longer the 
"Protestant Eome," but the very organ and head-quarters of Pome her- 
self! The Pope's Encyclical, excommunicating Victor Emmanuel and 
his satellites, proscribed and sequestrated in Eome, by the Florentine gov- 
ernment, was issued from Geneva, from which city we are bound, hence- 
forth, to look for the latest and most authentic news from Rome ! The 
'■'-Corres'pondence de Geneve'''' may be regarded as the official organ, at least, 
the echo of Eome. 

Baltimore, March 1st, 1871. 



* 



LETTER 

OF A 

Young Student of Law 

T 

Rev. MM. Merle D'Aiibigne and Biingener. 



Gentlemen : 

I have been present at your lectures. I came to them a 
Catholic, and I returned more firmly convinced of the divinity 
of my religion. I came, expecting that men, ^vho have grown 
old in theological studies and meditations on Holy Writ, 
would show me the truth. But my expectations have not 
been realized ; you have attempted by sophism and prejudice 
to extinguish the last spark of faith remaining in certain 
hearts; you have tried with sarcasm and irony to inflame 
your auditory with a hatred of a divine religion, and I have 
seen those who pretend to be the ministers of truth and justice 
descend, without fear of disgracing their years and religion, 
even to deceit and calumny. 

Yes, you have deceived; yes, you have calumniated! faith- 
ful to Voltaire: ''Lie! lie! there will always remain some- 
thing behind !" But, Gentlemen, if some poor bewildered 
souls have been led astray by your eloquence, I feel assured 
that the enlightened part of your hearers perceived, under 
your hypocritical words, passion, hate, and bad faith. For, 
when one defends a holy and just cause, he does not argue as 
you have done; you have asserted, continually asserted, your 
most conclusive proofs have been but assertions. Ah ! when 
one feels that he is the champion of truth, it is with logic that 
he attempts to convince the mind, and it is with the sword of 
philosophy that he cuts the Gordian knot of religious prob- 



14 

lems. But you knew that the errors of Protestantism could 
not endure the h'ght of true logic, and, therefore, you have 
tried, in order still to deceive, to contaminate the purest insti- 
tutions; you have piled injury upon injury, calumny upon 
calumny, to crush what Voltaire called the infamous ! All 
the prejudices and hatred that your heart contained, your 
mouth has vomited forth upon the purest and most sacred of 
truths. 

But, Gentlemen, your calumnies are not worthy even of 
disdain; yet, when I think of the poor souls, deprived of all 
light, who perhaps have been deceived by your false philoso- 
phy, I'cannot help defending the cause of truth and showing 
those deluded hearts how you have deceived them, how you 
have seduced them, and how even you would lead them to 
perdition. 

I challenge you, Gentlemen, to discuss this matter philo- 
sophically and with common sense, taking as witnesses the 
Gospel and history. 

I will not (.'onfine myself in this letter to refuting, one by 
one, the arguments you have advanced in your lectures; for, 
a discussion should not commence with details, but principles. 

I will then confine myself simply to proving that truth is 
found only in the Roman Catholic Church, and not in Pro- 
testantism, For this is an incontestable principle: Truth alone 
has the right to exist, to be manifested and to be propagated; 
error has not. And if I prove that you are in error, and that 
we in the truth, then I will have sufficiently refuted your 
arguments, since the foundation of your lectures will no 
longer exist. 

I. 

1. God alone has the right to institute a religion. Man 
has not. 

Then, Gentlemen, who established Protestantism? God or 
man? An incontestable fact is, that Calvin established it. 
In virtue of what right did he do it? In virtue of an 



15 



inherent right? — But, he was only a man. In virtue of a 
right conceded to him by God, of a mission confided to him 
by heaven? — Where are your proofs? Show me one, a 
single one, and I am a Protestant. 

2. Jesus Christ, you will tell me, is God, and we are the 
true followers of Jesus Christ. Yes, Christ is God ; but when 
did Christ establish Protestantism? Find in the Gospel, 
which you have chosen as the fundamental principle of your 
religion, a passage, a text, a single word, which authorises 
your existence, which approves of your belief, or justifies your 
faith. I will go further and say, find me a single page upon 
wdiich your condemnation is not written. 

Oh ! fatal blindness ! You have in your very hands the 
light of the Gospel and yet you do not see it ! You hear 
the words of Jesus Christ, and yet you do not understand 
them ! Open then that book of divine truth and read : 

"Go, teach all nations.'^ ^ said Jesus Christ to his disciples. 
"He that heareth you, heareth me; he that despiseth you, 
despiseth me.^' ^ 

Saint Paul said to the Bishops : " Take heed to yourselves 
and to the flock over which the Holy Ghost has placed you 
Bishops, to govern the Church of God.'^ "Obey your pre- 
lates and be submissive to them; for they watch over you, as 
being to render an account for your souls.^' ^ And you reject 
all teaching; your only guide is the Gospel interpreted by 
individual reason. 

"Faith without works is dead in itself.''^ "What will it 
profit a man to say that he has faith, if he has not works?'' '' 
" If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments." ^ 
And you pretend that to be saved, faith is sufficient without 
works. 

" Whose sins you shall forgive they are forgiven them ; 
whose sins you shall retain, they are retained." And you 
do not wish to acknowledge this power in the priests. 



1 Matthew, xxviii, 19. - St. Luke, x, 16. s Epistle to the Hebrews, xiii, 17. 
* St. James, ii, 20. ^St, James, ii, 14, c Matthew, xix, 17. ' John, xx, 22. 



16 



"This is my body This is my blood/' ^ "My 

flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed/' ^ And 
you deny the real presence, and transubstantiation in the 
sacramental species. 

" Wherefore labor the more to secure by good works your 
vocation and election."^ "Work out your salvation with 
fear and trembling." ^ And you believe in an absolute pre- 
destination, which leaves man nothing to do. 

" Do penance." ^ " If you do not do penance you shall all 
likewise perish." " Mortify therefore your members." ^ And 
you say, that the sufferings of Jesus Christ are sufficient in 
themselves to insure our salvation. 

These passages, and many others that could be easily given, 
are sufficiently explicit to condemn your religion. 

3. But let us continue our philosophical discussion. 

Your religion either dates from Jesus Christ, or from Lu- 
ther, Calvin, and Henry VIII. If it dates from Jesus Christ, 
where was it before the Reformation? What nation recog- 
nized it ? What people practiced it ? Where were its temples, 
its ministers, and its followers ? And if your religion dates 
only from Luther and Calvin, how can it be the religion 
established by Jesus Christ? 

Does it seem probable that the Son of God, descended from 
Heaven to establish a Church, should have permitted that 
Church to remain for fifteen centuries in oblivion ? Is it pos- 
sible that God, who promised to be with His Church even to 
the consummation of time, should have abandoned it at the 
instant of His death and permitted it to disappear entirely 
from the surface of the globe ? 

4. I go still further. According to your own assertion 
you base your religion on the Holy Scriptures. But it was 
the Catholic Church which preserved, during fifteen hundred 
years, and transmitted the Scriptures to Luther and Calvin. 
Here then is a dilemma ; either the Catholic Church is the 



1 Luke, xxii, 19 ; Matthew, xxvi, 2G, 28 ; Mark, xiv, 22. - John, vi, 5G. 

3 II. St. Peter, i, 10. ^ Phil., ii, 12. Matthew, iv, 17, ^ St. Luke, xiii, 3. ^ Coloss., iii, 5. 



17 



true Church, or it is not. If it is not true, what proofs will 
you give to show that the Gospel is truly the Word of God, 
and that it has reached us pure and intact, without change or 
alteration? And if you cannot furnish the proofs, your reli- 
gion is based upon an hypothesis, and you can only say that 
j^rohahly you possess the truth, never assuredly ; for every 
hypothesis engenders a probability, never a certainty. But 
if the Catholic Church is the true Church, why did the re- 
formers abandon it? In this case, most assuredly, the truth 
could not be in contradiction with the truth; consequently, 
in rejecting the teachings of the Catholic Church, to propose 
others contradictory to them, the reformers did inevitably fall 
into error. There is a dilemna ; get out of it, I defy you. 
5. Do you desire other proofs? 

I lay down as a truth, that a holy religion should be estab- 
lished by a holy man, and that it should produce saints — I 
say that the founder should be a saint, because the effect can 
not be more perfect than the cause, this is an axiom. 

But was Protestantism established by a saint? Luther, 
Calvin, Henry the YIII., are they saints, yes or no? If they 
are, prove it. If not, your religion is not holy, and a religion 
that is not holy, is not true ; for a true religion is that which 
comes from God, and that which comes from God is holy by 
its very nature. 

JN'o! I say that the founders of Protestantism were not 
saints, and history proves the fact. No, Luther was not a 
saint, because he made converts by the sword and animal force, 
not by persuasion and logic; because it was upon the smoking 
ruins of seven cities, one thousand monasteries, three hundred 
churches, that he established his religion ; because he shed 
torrents of blood merely to satiate his ambition, and excited 
princes to war, saying: ^^As long as there will rest a drop of 
blood in your veins, pursue as wild beasts, and consume like 
wolves these miserable peasants;'^ because he violated the 
most sacred principles of morals by permitting bigamy ; ^ 



i Philippe of Hesee was permitted by Luther to marry a second wife during the life 
of his tirst. 

3 



18 



because his morals were so corrupt, that even Calvin was 
compelled to say: "Surely, Luther is very wicked. Would 
to God that he would take more pains to curb the intemper- 
ance which consumes him — would to God that he would think 
more of acknowledging his own vices ! " 

No, Calvin was no saint, because he tyrannized over both 
body and soul;^ because he wrote his laws with human blood, 
and ruled by the assistance of butchers and instruments of 
torture; because he was the persecutor of Peter Ameaux, ^ of 
Henry de la Marc, ^ of Francis Favre, ^ of Jerome Bolsec ; ^ 
because he was the assassin of Gruet, ^ and of Servetus ; ^ 
because his theological system, according to a Protestant 
minister, ^ is " the most horrible ever conceived by any 
human being/' 

No, Henry YIII. was no saint, because he possessed the 
most corrupt heart, tlie most degraded and debased character 
perhaps of his time; because he outraged the consciences of 
his subjects, by the bill of the Six Articles, in forcing them to 
believe under pain of imprisonment or death what he desired; 
because he dyed his hands in the blood of Fisher and Thomas 
More; because he violated five different times his marriage 
vows ; because he was the assassin of Anne Boleyn and Cath- 
erine Howard, his wives ; and because he was a monster of 
cruelty, of debauchery, and of intemperance. ^ 

^ Calvin at Geneva, Pamphlet by M. I'Abbe Fieury. 

~ He was condemned to pass through the streets of Geneva in his shirt, a torch in 
his hand, his head and feet bare, and obliged to ask pardon for what he had said. He 
had said that Calvin was a " wicked man .... announcing false doctrine ! ! ! ! " 

3 Was exiled for having said, that he always considered Peter Ameaux a peaceable 
and worthy man, but that when Calvin had a spite against any one he was never 
satisfied. 

* Was imprisoned with his daughter, son-^in-law, and friends, for having danced. 

5 Was exiled, for having "proposed an opinion false and contrary to the Evangelical 
religion." 

6 He was beheaded, and his head afterwards nailed to a post. He was suspected of 
being the author of a placard against Abel Poupin, and letters in which Calvin was 
ridiculed were found in his house. 

7 Accused of being a " sower of heresies," Servetus was thrown into prison, where 
he remained for two long months, eaten by vermin, without clothes and with very 
little food. He left the prison only to march to execution. He wrs burnt alive at 
Champel. 8 Mr. Pouzait. 

" He became, in consequence of his excesses, so corpulent that he had to be moved 
about by machinery. 



19 



I say then again, that a holy religion should produce saints, 
since a good tree always bears good fruit, ^ and the effect 
always corresponds with the cause. Then, has Protestantism 
ever produced saints? Show me one, a single one? And if 
your religion was neither established by a saint, nor has pro- 
duced saints, it is not holy ; therefore, it is not true. 

6. But it is not sufficient. Gentlemen, to have demonstrated 
so far the falsity of Protestantism, I should also vindicate the 
truth of Catholicity. 

In the first place, the Catholic Church is holy, because she 
w^as established by Jesus Christ. History and tradition prove 
beyond doubt her divine and holy origin. But if you desire 
to deny this, tell me simply and precisely, from whom she 
comes, and w^ience she dates. It seems to me that the 
establishment of Catholicity is an event sufficiently important, 
to have solicited the attention of the world, and to have been 
inscribed in the annals of nations. 

In the second place, the Catholic Church is holy, because 
she has produced saints, and continues to produce them ; she 
produces saints in those virgins who pass their lives in inno- 
cence and chastity, in order to have no other spouse save 
Jesus Christ, who left the noise and confusion of the world 
to enclose themselves in the cloister, there to pray for those 
who have not the thought to pray for themselves ; saints in 
those women of devotedness, w^ho mingle their tears with those 
of all the world, who watch by the bed of the sick, wounded 
and dying, encouraging them at the final moment, when hell 
tries by a last and mighty effort to destroy their immortal 
souls ; saints in those holy hermits, who pass their lives in 
every kind of mortification and prayer; saints in those legions 
of martyrs, who have shed their blood for the faith, and who 
have died while asking forgiveness and grace for their execu- 
tioners ; saints in those innumerable apostles who, actuated 
by the most sublime charity, have flown to the utmost parts 
of the world, to fight and gain souls to the love of Jesus Christ. 

^ Noil poiest arbor bona malos fructus facere; neqiie arbor mala bonos fruetus 
facer e. — Matt h., vii, 18. 



20 



7. This is not all ; it is necessary to convince you that, the 
Catholic Church is in perfect harmony with the Scriptures. 

I defy you then, Gentlemen, to find anything in the Scrip- 
tures that is either contradictory to our faith or doctrine. It is 
true, you will not perhaps find therein all our belief ; but what 
conclusions are you to draw from that? None, this silence 
proves absolutely nothing, because the Holy Scriptures neither 
are, nor can be, the only guide in reference to the teachings of 
Christ ; we must accept tradition as a commentary and expla- 
nation. 

Christianity, in fact, was originally established, propagated, 
and perpetuated without the New Testament. Jesus Christ 
only preached, he never wrote a word ; He sent His apostles 
to preach. He did not command them to write a syllable, which 
at least permits us to believe that the Scriptures are neither 
necessary nor indispensable to Christianity. 

Moreover, the Gospel of Saint Matthew was not written 
until eight years after the ascension, and that of Saint Mark, 
ten years after; the Gospel of Saint Luke did not appear until 
about the year 51, and that of Saint John, until towards 98. 
But, before the Gospel was written, were there no Christians? 
And if there were, what guide did they use to direct them in 
the faith? Oral teaching, or, in another word, tradition. 

Permit me here. Gentlemen, to reproduce the syllogism 
proposed by Bishop Mermillod to Mr. Bungener, in the cele- 
brated Conference of the 2nd of September, 1856, after which 
the minister declared and with justice, on two different occa- 
sions, that he would not ^^cry victory Christianity of to-day 
should be the same as primitive Christianity; now primitive 
Christianity existed without the reading of the Scriptures. 
Therefore, Christianity can exist without that reading. 

Finally, open the Gospel, to be convinced that it is not 
sufficient of itself. ^'Hold fast to the traditions which you 
have received, whether by word of mouth or by my letters,^^ 
said St. Paul to the Thessalonians. ^ "What you have learned 
from me before many witnesses, commit it to faithful men 
who are able to instruct others,''^ wrote St. Paul to the Bishop 



^ II. Thessal., ii, 14. 



2 II. Tirnot., ii, 2. 



21 



Timothy. "Jesus also did many other things, which if they 
were all written, I think the world could not contain the 
books which should be written/'^ as we read at the end of the 
Gospel according to St. John. 

We should then accept Tradition as well as the Scriptures, 
and the Catholic Church which receives both remains the 
unshaken Pillar of Truth. 

II. 

1. Truth is always the same; it changes neither w^ith time, 
place, nor individuals. From whence it is easy to conclude, 
that the true Church should possess unity of faith, and should 
have transmitted, from age to age, the same doctrine and the 
same belief. 

The Religion then of Jesus Christ, which is a divine Reli- 
gion, should carry with it the sacred seal of unity; for, Christ 
wished that there should be but " one sheep fold and one 
Shepherd — ei jiei unum ovile et wms Pastor.'' ^ 

And in the prayer which Jesus addressed to His Father on 
the eve of His passion. He said: "Holy Father, preserve in 
thy name those whom thou hast given to me, that they may 
be ONE as we are one. .... But I pray not for them alone, 
(his apostles,) but also for those who through them will be- 
lieve in me, that they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art 
in me and I in thee, that they also may be one in Us, that 
the world may believe that thou hast sent Me. And I have 
communicated to them of that glory which thou hast given 
Me, that they may be one as we are one. I am in them and 
thou art in Me, that they may be perfect in unity, and that 
the world may know that thou hast sent Me, and that thou 
hast loved them as thou hast loved Me. ^ 

Thus, reason and the Gospel both proclaim, that unity 
should be a distinctive mark of the true Church. 

Now, which religion, the Catholic or the Protestant, pos- 
sesses unity? 

1 St. John, xxi, 25. ^ St. John, x, 16. ^ St. John, xvii, 11, 20, and the following. 



2. Can the answer be doubtful ? Where will you find a 
more perfect unity than that of the Catholic Church? Unity 
of doctrine, unity of sacraments, unity of government, unity 
of discipline ; behold the divine seal of the Catholic Church. 
Do you not find here one Shepherd and one Sheep-fold ? 

I cannot refrain here from introducing a few lines from the 
Geneva Journal, of the 27th of December, 1869, where we 
see, notwithstanding its religious antipathy, a formal avowal 
of the unity of the Catholic Church. "The hierarchical gov- 
ernment of Rome is so carefully arranged, . . . that it is impos- 
sible for it to be seriously impaired. Do not believe then the 
rumors Avhich would lead us to expect grave dissension in the 
Council, the possible dissolution of that assembly, etc. I 
must tell you the truth, nothing of that nature will occur." 

3. But to continue. The Protestant Church, on the con- 
trary, has a diversity of faith, diversity of teaching, and diver- 
sity of doctrine. If proofs are necessary, recall only the synods 
of Miinster, Paris, Bremen, Berlin, and Geneva. Where have 
all these re-unions ended, but in giving a most striking proof 
of your disunion and diversity ? And after each one of those 
religious debates, what could you say, but : " That we agree in 
that in ichich we do not disagree.'' ^ 

4. From this I draw the following conclusion : 

That God, either inspires each individual in particular in a 
free examination of the Scriptures, which serve as rules for 
his belief, or he does not? If he does, the inspiration should 
be necessarily the same for all, or at least should never be 
contradictory; for it is absurd to suppose that God, the source 
of all truth, could contradict Himself, and consequently you 
should all have unity of faith and belief If he does not 
inspire, you can not possess unity, because reason varying 
with each individual, the interpretation should vary also. 

Now, you have not unity. Therefore, I am permitted to 
conclude, that God does not inspire each one of you in par- 
ticular. 



1 Words of a Protestant minister, Mr. Tesswar, at the synod of Berlin. 



23 



And, if God does not inspire each one in particular, what 
is Protestantism? 

It is no longer a religion, but a confusion of beliefs opposed 
directly to one another, a chaos of horrible contradictions, a 
perpetual conflict of diverse ideas and opinions. Thus we see 
that Mr. Naville was correct, when he wrote in his " Ministry 
of the Christian Church : ^' The Reformers, in proclaiming 
the principle of free examination of the Scriptures, were far 
from foreseeing and wishing all the consequences thereof.^' 

5. And even if I should admit, that in the interpretation of 
the Gospel by the individual reason, there is some assistance 
from divine inspiration, the diversity of faith in the Protestant 
churches still remains the same. Now, one truth cannot be in 
direct contradiction with another. 

Therefore, if some of you possess the truth, others do not. 
But then by what signs, by what witnesses, by what proofs, 
or, in fact, how are we to know those who possess the truth ? 
By the Gospel? But it is precisely in following the Gospel, 
that human reason has arrived at conclusions and ideas dia- 
metrically opposed to one another. Thus, Protestants are 
compelled to say that, j^erhaps we possess the truth, but there 
is not a single one who can affirm tcith certainty that his 
religion is the true one. This is skepticism in religion, and 
yet you dare proclaim, that you are the followers, the chil- 
dren, of Jesus Christ! 

What ! a religion which by its logical consequences leads to 
doubt and absurdity, a religion in which you have as much 
right to believe what is not true as what is, that religion is the 
religion of the true God ! What idea then have you of God, 
if He can, without injuring His infinite perfections, cherish 
falsehood equally with truth; if He can admit the absurd and 
foolish, and have revelations contradictory one to the other ? 
To sustain this is to sustain, that'the most perfect Being is the 
most imperfect. 



24 



III. 

1. "There would be too much obscurity, if the truth did 
not possess some distinctive and visible marks," said justly 
Blaise Pascal. 

A religion, then, which is truly divine should be marked 
with a seal which no other religion could bear. This seal 
must be miracles, since none save God and those commissioned 
by Him can perform them. 

I hope, Gentlemen, that you will not deny the possibility 
of miracles ; for reason itself tells us that God, who established 
the laws of nature, can suspend them, as well as a legislator 
can annul the laws which he has promulgated. I hope also 
that, besides the possibililty of miracles, you will admit their 
reality, since you acknowledge the Gospel, and on nearly 
every page of this book you find an account of them. 

2. We notice in the history of the Jewish nation, that when- 
ever God confided a special mission to any one He performed 
miracles to convince him of His power, and also enabled the 
person commissioned to work them to prove to others from 
whom he came. 

Here it is the flaming bush, which burns without being 
consumed, and from which cometh the voice commanding 
Moses to deliver Israel ; the Angel sent to Gideon, who 
changes stones into bread ; the voice of an invisible being, 
who calls to Samuel from the midst of the darkness. There 
it is Moses, who chastises Egypt with ten plagues to touch the 
heart of the incredulous Pharoah; Elias, who confounded the 
priests of Baal by causing fire to descend from heaven on the 
altar; Eliseus, who restores to life the son of the Sunamite 
woman ; Daniel, who comes forth twice from the lions^ den 
untouched ; finally, Isaiah, who causes the shadow of the sun 
to recede on the dial of Ezechias. 

3. It is plain, then, that God manifests His divine will in 
the most forcible manner by miracles. Also, when Jesus 
Christ came upon earth. He performed miracles to convince 



25 



mankind of His divine mission, and He gave to His apostles 
the same power in order that the world might believe them. 
Therefore the Church of Christ, which was established to live 
during all ages, must necessarily possess at all times this 
divine mark which distinguishes her from all false religions ; 
for if, as Pascal said, " it is man^s duty to God to receive the 
Religion wdiich He desires to give him, it is also God^s duty 
not to lead man into error.'^ 

But, Gentlemen, which has this mark of truth. Protestant- 
ism or Catholicity ? 

4. Of what miracles can Protestantism boast? Which one 
of your founders performed a single one? Is there one of you, 
who ever made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to 
walk ? Is there any one of you, who ever approached a coffin 
and saw, suddenly at his command, an inanimate body rise into 
life and vigor ? I know very w^ell that Calvin tried to work 
a miracle; but his attempt was a miserable failure, and it dis- 
gusted him to such an extent, that he never had the courage to 
renew the experiment. It is related that one day, as he was 
walking with some of his friends, he met a poor woman weep- 
ing, mourning, and pulling her hair in a most piteous manner. 
The sympathising heart of the executioner of Michel Servetus 
and tyrant of Geneva is touched with compassion ; the misfor- 
tune of this poor woman interests him, he approaches her, 
and demands the cause of her tears. She tells him that her 
husband has just died; Calvin consoles her, and requests to be 
led to the coffin. Arrived here, he commands the dead man 
in the most solemn voice to rise, but he does not move; a 
second time he commands him, but with the same result. 
Then the wife becoming enraged heaps every kind of injury 
upon the Reformer ; Coward ! monster ! she cries, " you 
have been the death of my husband. It was at your com- 
mand that he entered that coffin, in order to come out at your 
wish. He entered it alive, and there now he is dead ! And 
Calvin, covered with confusion, could only say : " But do you 
not see, that she is crazy ? 
4 



26 



5. Thus we see not a single miracle, which can attest that 
Protestantism is really the Church of God. 

But in the history of the Catholic Church, it is by thousands 
that we count them. You will say, no doubt, that this is not 
true, but history tells you that it is ; the tombs of our Saints 
say that it is ; Loretto, Einseideln, Fourviere, Notre Dame 
des Victoires, all proclaim its truth. 

6. But still I hear you say that this is not true ; for denials 
are the only proofs of those who have no others. Tlien to 
convince you, let us examine the thing philosophically. 

In the first place, we can easily distinguish miracles from 
natural events. A miracle is an event, which is an exception 
to one of the laws which govern the physical world. But to 
be able to judge of a miracle, is it necessary to know all the 
laws of the physical world ? No, for these laws are all in such 
perfect harmony, that whatever derogates from one derogates 
from the others. Thus, if I should see a blind man's eyes 
suddenly opened to the light, a paralytic's members receive 
suddenly their vigor and force, a body already decayed rise 
full of life, although I should not know all the laws of nature, 
would you suppose me crazy, if I cry out miracle ! miracle ! 
Could you yourself. Gentlemen, restrain this cry ? But sup- 
pose instead of seeing it myself, I should have it from the 
mouths of twenty, a hundred, a thousand witnesses of diverse 
ages, interests, ideas, passions and characters, what would you 
say then? T^'o say that it is not true, would be absurd; 
because it would be necessary that these witnesses should have 
all had, at the same instant and during the same length of 
time, the same hallucination; it would be necessary, that they 
should have all imagined to have seen what they saw not, to 
have heard what they heard not, to have touched what they 
touched not, and instead of one miracle, you would have a 
hundred, three hundred, a thousand, in fact as many as there 
were witnesses. Let us conclude, that man's testimony is as 
reliable, when it relates to supernatural events as when it has 
reference to natural ones. And if we can believe man's testi- 
mony concerning miraculous events, will you yet dare, in 



27 



regarding with hatred the annals of the Catholic Church, to 
say with a contemptuous smile : " Miracles are but supersti- 
tion/' Do you know, Gentlemen, that nothing proves 
better the truth of history in reference to miracles than the 
multitude and diversity of theories by which they are denied ? 
No argument has ever proved their falsity, but every one has 
shown the emptiness of those theories which preceded it. To 
say that miracles are useless or impossible, is not to prove them 
such, but to show more clearly that you can not prove them 
false/' ' 

6. N'ow, if the Catholic Church performs miracles in the 
name of Jesus Christ, ^ and if she alone works them, can I 
not and should I not cry in the greatest faith and admiration : 
Oh Catholic Church, you indeed can alone justly claim to be 
the Church of God, you are truly the guardian of truth, your 
temples are really those of the Lord, your altars are truly 
those whence ascend prayers and incense pleasing to God; 
for, you perform those things, which you .could not per- 
form were not God with you; nemo enim potest haec signa 
faeere quce tufacis, nisifuerit Deus cum eo. ^ 

lY. 

God can not impose upon man a religion which is incom- 
patible with his nature ; to suppose the contrary is to doubt 
the infinite wisdom of the Most High. 

ISTow, which. Protestantism or Catholicity is the most 
adapted to our nature ? 

This, Gentlemen, the following remarks will decide : 

1. I maintain, in the first place, that man is necessarily, an 
instructed being, that his mind left to its own force could 
never arrive at the knowledge of certain truths. Now, if 
there are any truths which are too elevated for the human 



1 Da Doute, par M. Henri ue Oossoles. 

2 He who worketh miracles in My name can not at the same time speak ill of me. — 
St. Mark, ix, 38. ^ St. John, iii, 2. 



28 



reason to grasp by itself, they are certainly those which have 
reference to the supernatural order. 

However, these truths of a supernatural order Protestant- 
ism does not desire to teach, she offers them for free examina- 
tion, she says to each individual, giving him the Bible : read, 
reason, and decide for yourself. 

^^All the societies separated from the Catholic Church,'^ 
said Fenelon, " found their separation but upon the offer of 
making each individual absolute judge of the Scriptures, and 
of making him see that the Gospel contradicts the Eoman 
Eeligion. The first step an individual is compelled to make in 
order to hearken to these sects, is to constitute himself judge 
between them and the Church which they have abandoned. 
Now, what ignorant woman, or what artisan, can say without 
appearing ridiculous and presumptuous, I am going to 
examine if the Catholic Church has weU interpeted the text 
of the Scriptures ? " ^ 

Permit me here to make a little digression. That ignorant 
woman and artisan can they be mistaken in their interpreta- 
tion, yes or no ? If they can, then Protestantism may be in 
error, and consequently it is not the true religion. If they 
cannot, you then declare that infallibility can exist in a human 
being, and why then do you proclaim that it is absurd, morally 
speaking, that the Pope should be infallible? 

Let us make now a supposition. Here is a man with a 
narrow, u linformed mind, but who, however, can read. He 
has an immortal soul, as precious in the sight of God as any 
other, and of course he has the same right to the truth. But 
now how vill he acquire it? By himself? He is not capable, 
or he is ir fallible. By the teaching of a friend or a minister? 
But then be acquires his knowledge no longer by a free exami- 
nation, but by tradition. Thus there is no alternative, the 
ignorant must either give up all hope of ever knowing the 
truth, or tradition will replace free examination, and if it is 
thus, a free examination is not necessary; and if it is not neces- 



^ Letter on Religion, by Fenelon. 



29 



sary, why adopt it as the fundamental principle of your 
religion, and reject tradition ? 

Let us continue, and instead of an ignorant man, let us take 
the most learned in the world. Now there he is with the 
Bible and his reason and, as a good Protestant, rejecting of 
course tradition. But before he opens the Book, as a reason- 
able man, he proposes to himself this question: Why do I 
take this Book as a guide for my faith ? Because it is the inspi- 
ration of God. But how do I know it is an inspired work ? 
It is not by myself ; neither my reason nor a free examination 
could teach it to me, but it is a faith which has been trans- 
mitted. And if that belief has been transmitted to me, it is 
necessary, then, that I should take for my point of departure 
tradition. Thus again there is no alternative, this man is 
either compelled not to open the Bible at all, and, therefore, 
not to have any faith, or he must violate the fundamental 
principles of Protestantism to be a Protestant. 

These are the horrible contradictions to which Protestant- 
ism leads, in refusing to give to man what is most necessary 
to him, oral instruction. 

The Catholic Church, on the contrary, commands our rea- 
son to submit to revealed instruction ; she forbids our narrow 
minds to discuss what has been ordained by divine wisdom; 
she wishes us to accept a holy doctrine in crying with all our 
sincerity : Credo — I believe ! And do not say, that this sub- 
mission of the mind degrades man, since it elevates him to 
the divine region of eternal and infinite truths, whilst your 
pride or pedantry, which wishes to discuss and decide all, 
condemns you to error. 

It is thus, that the doctrine of the Church is transmitted 
from generation to generation always pure, always intact, 
always true and always holy, as in the time of Jesus Christ. 
It is thus, that truth is in the reach of both the learned and 
the i'gnorant. It is thus, that the simplest child and the 
poorest woman, when they know their catechism, have more 
perfect ideas of the Divinity, than those which the most per- 
fect reason or the genius of Socrates and Plato can ever give, 



30 



and it is thus that child and woman can cry from the depth 
of their hearts : Coiifiteor tibi, Pater, Domine cceli et terrce^ 
quia abscondisti hcec a sapientibus, et prudentibus, et revelasti ea 
parviUis;'^ "I confess to thee, oh Father, Lord of heaven and 
earth, because thou hast hidden these things from the great 
and prudent ones and revealed them to the little ones. ^ 

2. Man, on account of the imperfections of his nature, is 
inclined to sin. 

And what does Protestantism do to raise up the poor fallen 
soul ? A man has fallen. What Protestant pastor will go to 
reclaim the lost sheep ? What friendly hand will be stretched 
forth to aid him ? What voice will be raised to forp ive him ? 

o 

Poor miserable creature! He is condemned to a continual 
remembrance of his crime, to perpetual reproach, torment, and 
shame ! During the day he can find no repose ; at night no 
sleep ; unceasing remorse ! Horrible suffering which can only 
end with life. 

But in the Catholic Church there is a tribunal of mercy, 
where the sinner comes to throw himself at the feet of a 
spiritual father crying : Father forgive me ; I have sinned ! . 
And then the hand of a Priest is raised over the head of the 
guilty to absolve him from his sins. 

Ah ! that revolution which is creating such excitement in 
England, that cry almost unanimous demanding a confessor, 
that enthusiasm with which the tribunals of penance have 
been erected in many churches, all attest how the conscience 
is oppressed, when the penitent can not find a place to pour 
fortli his soul's sorrow, a voice to pardon, a hand to absolve. 

3. " You must count on your weakness in temptation and 
also in grief,'' says the pious author of Consolation for the 
Suffering. ^ In fact, man is comdemned to misery, to tears 
and to suffering, and the soul without a support must succumb 
under the weight of its sufferings. 

Now what consolation or support does Protestantism *offer 
to the afflicted? Its temples are nearly always shut, and the 



1 Matthew, xi, 25, and St. Luke, x, 21, 



- Rev. Abby Nambride de Nigri. 



31 



poor miserable sinner can not visit them to weep in silence ; 
its churches are naked, empty, and more melancholy even 
than their silence and solitude ! The sinner at least will find 
in his faith some hope of reward ; but no, works are useless, 
and consequently patience, resignation, submission to the will 
of God, are acts null and without merit. And thus the poor 
heart must remain without consolation happy, if it does not 
fall into blasphemy and despair, which leads to suicide. And 
then if poverty is devoid of merit, the poor envy the rich ; if 
humility is worthless, those whose duty it is to obey will 
revolt againSd their masters, and confusion and ruin in society 
must follow. 

Oh ! all of you who weep, all of you, who are poor, sorrow- 
ful, broken hearts, it is to the Catholic Church that you should 
come; she alone pours the divine balm of consolation into 
every wound, lightens every burden, and comforts every heart. 
She opens her churches for you to pray, because she knows 
that man is always in need of aid and consolation, and that 
prayer is the best means to obtain these blessings. Then, the 
Church yet assists us by her faith. " Happy are those who 
weep, happy are those who suffer ; for theirs' is the kingdom 
of heaven.^' And the suffering heart knowing this is resigned, 
it blesses its oppressors because it hopes for an eternal reward ; 
the poor do not envy the rich, the feeble do not hate the 
powerful, and thus society is never troubled. 

4. Man is governed by certain moral obligations. There is 
a secret voice within him, which tells him to act when he 
would do good, and which forbids him when he would do evil. 

But Protestantism says to its followers ; faith alone is suffi- 
cient without works ; man is not in the least responsible for 
his actions. 

Consider, for an instant, the perplexity of an honest and 
virtuous Protestant, who wishes to do something forbidden by 
the moral law and permitted by the doctrine of his religion. 
How will he reconcile a formal prohibition with a formal per- 
mission ? How will he act ? What part will he take ? He 
does not know, and his heart remains in a cruel suspense and 
uncertainty. 



32 



The principles of the Catholic Church, on the contrary, are 
perfectly conformable with the moral law ; they are, in fact, 
but a complement and perfection of the moral law. If you 
but do what the Church commands, you will be in perfect 
peace. 

Then, either the moral law comes from God, or it does not. 
If it does not, will you explain by what natural causes, by what 
means purely human it is the same in all nations, in all places 
and all times ? This you can never do. If it has its origin 
in Him, Protestantism has not; because the principles and 
doctrine of the Protestant Church are in contradiction with 
the moral law, and God can not contradict Himself. 

What ! Jesus Christ, who came upon earth to instruct man, 
to redeem the world, to console the afflicted, and to give us a 
moral law, could He, divinely perfect, establish a Religion in 
which divine teaching is rejected, the power to forgive sins 
denied, in which our sufferings are not appeased^ and the 
moral law is disregarded? Again, could God commit such 
errors ? Couid He have purposes opposed to one another ? 
Who would dare sustain an impiety evidently so absurd? 
And yet Protestantism leads to all this. 

5. Let us then give the conclusion to which these facts 
must logically bring us. 

God can not impose upon man a Eeligion incompatible 
with his nature. 

Now, Catholicity^ is suitable to man's nature ; Protestant- 
ism is not. 

Therefore, Catholicity is truly a divine Religion ; Protest- 
antism is not. ^ 

y. 

Of all the religions that exist, there is and can not be but 
one true one ; because truth is one. 

^ The true Church should naturally, and I might say neces- 
sarily, be hated by all the others, and should combat victori- 
ously against them all. 



33 



'Now, what Church is held in horror by all the sects, and 
struggles continually and victoriously against them? It is 
the Catholic Church. 

Therefore the Catholic Church is the true one. 

This universal hatred, which so plainly indicates the truth 
and holiness of the Catholic Religion, can easily be proved. 

1. Eighteen hundred years have passed, since Jesus Christ 
spoke to the Prince of the Apostles these memorable words : 
"Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church, 
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." ^ And, 
for eighteen hundred years, these words of our Saviour have 
each day been solemnly fulfilled. 

Hell has put all its infernal machinery in operation ; it has 
exercised all its rage, displayed all its hate; it has created tem- 
pests, excited revolts; but its rage and hate have produced no 
effect ; its tempests and revolts have broken powerless against 
the rock upon which reposes the Catholic Church. 

If, however, at times the Church seemed to be perishing, 
and the faithful raised their hands towards heaven crying: 
" Domine, salva nos, perimus ; Lord save us, we perish" ^ — 
God replied to them, " Why fear ye, quid timidi estis ? " ^ 
" And at His voice the winds and the sea were quieted, and 
there came a great calm, et facta est tranquillitas magnaP ^ 
The preservation of the Church attested the greatness of the 
protection of God, in proportion as the danger was threatening. 

2. For eighteen hundred years the Church has existed ; for 
eighteen hundred years the cry has been raised continually: 
" The Church is falling ! " " The Church is dying ! " 

Yet she remains full of life and vigor, erect among the 
ruin of thrones and the destruction of nations. She has seen 
the throne of the Csesars crumble into dust. She has seen the 
ineffective rage of Constanius, of Julian the Apostate, and of 
the Iconoclasts. 

She has seen the barbarous hordes of the ferocious Attila 
dispersed. She has seen the Huns, the Goths, the Visigoths, 



1 Math., xvi, 18. 2 Math., viii, 25. ^ Math., viii, 26. * Math., Tiii, 26. 

5 



34 



the N'ormans, the Lombards, and the Vandals successively 
disappear. She has seen the cimetar drop from the enfeebled 
hands of the Moslems. She has seen the crown fall from the 
head of the Henrys and the Fredericks. She has seen the 
formidable power of the Albigenses and the Waldenses pass 
away. She has seen enkindled and extinguished all the succes- 
sive revolutions. She has seen the birth of all the heresies and 
of all the persecutions, and she has assisted at their death. 

Now, if all this is not a visible sign of the protection of 
God, I will ask you to explain in a manner merely human, 
how so much feebleness has conquered so much force ? 

3. The world lived in corruption, vice, and debauchery, 
and the Church came and told this degraded world : you 
gratify the flesh, you must mortify it ; you lived in pleasure, 
you must live in temperance; you are voluptuous, be chaste; 
you are proud, be humble ; you seek riches, desire poverty ; 
you contemn the poor, love them as your brothers ; you hate 
your enemies, love them as yourself. And the world sub- 
mitted! In vain, during three centuries, the Caesars employed 
all their force to drown in blood the yet infant Church : the 
martyr's blood was a fruitful seed to produce Christians. 
And again, if this is not a visible mark of the protection of 
God, I will ask you to explain, in a manner merely human, 
how the conquest, not only of nations, but, what is far more 
difficult, of so many souls, was made by a few illiterate men 
armed with the cross alone ? 

Ah ! but it is not in this manner that Protestantism was 
established. That religion, in which according to Bucer^s 
avowal, ^' nothing was sought so much as the pleasure of living 
in it according to one's fancy," could never subdue by quiet- 
ing conscience except through violence. It was with fire and 
the sword, that the reformers and their disciples evangelized 
nations. 

4. Now, Gentlemen, I defy you to find in history a single 
epoch, at which the Church had not to contend either against, 
the hate of persecutors, of princes, of heretics, or of infidels. 



35 



And do you think that, if the Catholic Church is not really 
a divine institution, she could have overcome so much hate ? 
that, when the most powerful thrones crumbled into dust, she 
alone, without any human support or force, could have come 
forth victorious from so many combats ? And do you think 
that, if the Catholic Church is not really the true one, she 
could have survived those terrible wars waged against her by 
all false religions, sects, and heresies? The Ebionites, the 
Nazarenes, the Cerinthians, the Docetes, the Gnostics, the 
Montanists, and the Manicheans, have all passed away, attest- 
ing at the same time the impotency of their hate and the 
strength of the Church. After them, Arius, Macedonius, 
Pelagius, Nestorius, and Eutyches, attacked the Church, but 
their impotent hatred was but another proof of her veracity. 

5. Even in our own days, is not the Catholic Church 
the hated object of all the sects, and of all the* powers of the 
earth ? 

And in order to ruin her, do they not wish to destroy her 
visible foundation, the Papacy? Look at that august and 
venerable sovereign at the Vatican ? Seated upon the Pon- 
tifical throne, he extends his hand to bless the world, and the 
world curses him ; he loves the world, and the world hates 
him ; he desires to save the world, and the world swears his 
ruin. How often have not the mountains of Italy heard the 
cry: War against the Papacy, Rome or death! and the echoes 
from all parts of the world have repeated the cry. 

But the Pope, calm and serene in the midst of the tempest, 
defied the revolution and convoked an (Ecumenical Council. 
Who would have thought. Gentlemen, two years ago, when 
Pope Pius IX. made that magnificent appeal to the Bishops 
of the entire world, that at the time fixed, the 8th day of 
December, 1869, Rome would still be the Pontifical city, 
the bulwark of Catholicity ? Who would have thought that 
the Papacy would still remain erect, and that that feeble and 
aged man would still see the world at his feet? Impiety 
laughed at so much audacity : because it considered victory 
certain^ To-day it is enraged: because it feels itself conquered. 



36 



Where is the boasting General, who, at the Congress of 
Geneva, declared so solemnly, the Papacy has fallen ? ^ He 
conceals his shame in some obscure retreat, now that his sword 
has been broken at Monte-Rotondo and Mentana. Did he 
not know, that God destroys the great as pots of clay, and that 
he crushes the proud as grapes in a press ? 

6. You desire Rome: take it, . . . what stops you? Does 
that old man without force, whose life is almost ended, frighten 
you ? Do you fear that small band, which has ranged itself 
under the standard of the Catholic Church ? Without doubt 
they are heroes ; but you have thousands of soldiers and assas- 
sins, and you can crush those heroes by numbers, as at Castel- 
fidardo, and make martyrs of them. ^ Do you fear France ? 
But France is assuredly not invincible, and perhaps, not in- 
flexible : and then, there is so much hatred in France against 
the Pope. What stops you then ? You do not know your- 
selves, but I know : it is the hand of God. 

The past makes us sure of the future. Forty-five times 
the Popes have left Rome, and forty-five times they have 
re-entered it. And if God in His wisdom should permit His 
Church to suffer again such tribulations, if He wish that His 
Vicar should again go into exile, to seek among strangers that 
hospitality which his own people deny him, we will say with 
resignation : " Thy will be done Oh Lord ! fiat voluntas tuaJ' 
And our saddened hearts will be consoled; for God never 
deceives, and Jesus Christ has said : " And behold, I am with 
you all days, even to the consummation of time — et eoce 
ego vobisGum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem 
sceculV ^ 

7. It is easily seen, that there is not a Religion which 
depends less upon human power for protection than the 
Catholic Religion. 



1 "The Papacy is declared abolished," words of Garibaldi. 

3 Since the above was written, the Florentine government has wickedly repeated, 
and by overpowering force of arms completed the woi-k of spoliation begun at Caslel- 
fidardo; but the iniquity cannot be enduring. Two hundred million Catholics cannot, 
will not permit the Pope to remain long a prisoner, in the hands of his enemies. 

3 St. Matth., xxviii, 20. 



37 



Protestantism has for its support England, Prussia, Sweden, 
and Holland. 

The Greeks have for defense the sword of the Czars. 
Islamism is protected by the Sultans. 

Catholicity alone is left to itself, without any human pro- 
tection. Show me a single State, a single Prince who really 
defends it without reserve and through conviction ? There is 
not one. ay, not only there are none to sustain it ; but you 
see directed against it the hate of kings and nations, who desire 
to destroy it by undermining its immovable base, the Papacy. 
And yet the Catholic Church stands always erect ; waving in 
the face of the world her victorious banner, the cross, and 
defying the wrath, the rage, and the hatred of mankind. 
When you see so much human power humbled by such feeble- 
ness, how can you not recognize the hand of God? And if 
God protects the Catholic Church, how is it you can not see 
that she is really the true Church, and the guardian of the 
pure doctrine of Jesus Christ? 

But I will conclude, Gentlemen. If I have spoken, it was 
not because I hoped to convince minds already convinced, but 
systematically incredulous. These words will perhaps sur- 
prise you ; however, I utter them not at hazard ; for I think 
that serious and instructed men, that ministers, above all, who 
have spent their lives in the study of the Gospel and of his- 
tory, and whose minds must have examined all religious ques- 
tions, can not be ignorant of the absurdities and contradictions 
which are found in Protestantism. 

If I have spoken, it was with the hope of showing to those 
who have heard your lectures, that your words possess not the 
least truth, and that the applause, which you have attained, 
has been bought by vile abuse and base calumny. 

Again, if I have spoken, it was not because I was unable to 
contain my indignation ; for what is contemptible merits only 
contempt. 

But I considered it the duty of every good Catholic to show 
those who triumph at your lectures, and think that we have 
been astounded and confused by your sophistry, that it is not 
sufficient to falsify history to destroy the truth. 



38 



But as to yourselves, Gentlemen, remember that God will 
one day demand of you an account of the talent which you 
have received, and if you have received much, that much will 
be demanded of you. 

Take care, God is the God of clemency and forgiveness; 
but He is also the God who punishes. 

Take care. His anathemas are terrible. He w^ho gives scan- 
dal, let him be anathema ! He who deceives his brother, let 
him be anathema ! He who disregards the truth, let him be 
anathema ! He who flatters the human passions, let him be 
anathema ! He who is proud, let him be anathema ! He 
who seeks human applause, in calumniating the Religion of 
God, let him be anathema ! 

In conclusion, let me ask of the God of mercies to open 
your eyes, touch your hearts, and give you the courage to 
defend what you have contended against, and to contend 
against what you have defended. This is my most fervent 
desire, my most ardent wish. 

Receive, Gentlemen, the assurance of my respect; and believe 
that these pages have not been dictated by passion or malice, 
but by the desire of destroying old prejudices, and of showing 
the truth to the poor souls who know it not. 

A Student of Law. 

Geneva^ 1870. 



April, 1871. 

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ROME AND GENEVA 



A LETTER 



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The Monde of July 2t, 1870, in speaking of this Book, says: "A touching and inspiring subject! It 
has been treated a hundred times in every manner, and yet M. Chardon has found a way ot being new 
—in constantly taking his stand on the doctrine of the Fathers, of the safest mystical writers, and 
principally on the examples, words, and revelations of Saints of both sexes. This, in our opinion, is 
the only path to tread to succeed in the matter of Books of this class, and pvoid the commonplace 
nullities that inundate us. We cordially than.v Abbe Chardon, for having so happily guarded against 
the number." 

Nearly Ready, Uniform with "The Happiness of Heaven" and "Guardian Angel," 
In a very neat volume, tinted paper, cloth, $1, cloth gilt, $1.50. 
With ihe Approbation of the Most Rev. Archbishop Spalding. 
THE HOLT COMMUNION, It is my life! or, Strains of Love of 
the fervent Soul tvhose Jiappiness is constituted bi/ Holy Communion. 
By Hubert Lebon. Translated from the French, by M. A. Garnett. 

MURPHY & CO., Publishers and Booksellers, Baltimore. 



MURPHV & GO'S New and Recent Publications, &c. 
Every Catholic should Secure this Popular Book. 

The most Cj;n;)!ete anil Cheapest Co.npeiitliuiii of tlic History of the Chiircli, ever Published iu the English Language. 

The First Edition of 2,000 Copies Sold in One Month. 

Koic Ready, the Second Revised Edition, in a neat volume of nearly GOO pa(/es, 12o. 
cloth bev. $2, cloth, gilt, $2.50, libranj style, §3, half calf , $3.50. 

A HISTORY OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, 

From the Comraenccinent of the Christian Era to the Ecumenical Conncil of the Vatican, 

In which are narrated her Combats and her Victories in Times of Persecution, Heresy 
and Scandal, and ivherein is shown that her Preservation is a Divine Work. 
Compiled aiitl Translated fi-oni tlie best Aiitliors. By Rev. T. NOETHEIV. 

This Work has been compiled and translated from the most reliable sources, v. ith the view of sup- 
pl.ving an acknowledged WMnt and placing in as brief a space as possible, nil well established facts con- 
ne'cted with the Histor\' of the Church, from the commencement of the Christian Era to the Ecumeni- 
cal Council of the Vatican. Tne aim has been to give Historical facts, briefly, in a plain fluent style, 
free from fancies and partiality. 

Preparing for Immediate Publication, 32o, cloth 50 cfs. cloth bev. red edges, 75 cts. 
With the Approbation of the Most Rev. Archbishop Spalding. 

Th3 Love of Jesus; or, Visits to tli3 Blessed Fa:rainent for Every Day in the Month. 

To which is Added, the DEVOTION of the FOJITY llOUBS, 

With an Introduction by a7i American Clergyman. 

Fro7n the Introduction to the Aruericnn Edition.— -'The only change from the English Edition of this 
excellent little Book, full of Pious Thouglits and Holy Aspirations, with Meditative Reflections of 
much beauty, exceedingly well put together, is the addition of the beautiful prayer of St. Thomas 
Aquinas,'! devoutly adore Thee O Hidden Deity,' and the prayers for the P'orty Hours' Devotiox, 
taken from a work, approved by that great servant of God, the late CJardinal Wiseman. They will help 
nil who use them to spend those ever sacred moments in a manner most pleasing to God, and advanta- 
geous to their own souls." 

The Best and Cheapest Child's Prayer Book. 

Now Ready, with upwards of 40 Illustrations, a New, Revised & Enlarged Edition cf 

THE CHILD'S Fit AVER AND HYMN BOOK, for the Use of 
Catholic Siuiday Schools — To which are added the Vespers, Benediction of the 

Blessed Sacrament, and the Responses before and During High Mass, set to Music. 
^Flexible cloth, 30 cts. cloth, 40 cts. cloth, bevelled, gilt, CO cts. Imitation, gilt, $1. 
With the Approbation and Recommendation ofthe Most Rev, Archbishop SPALDING. 

The very favorable reception heretofore accorded to the Child's Prater and Hvmx Book, has in- 
duced the' publishers to issue a new, revised and enlarged edition. The revision has extended to 
all the various devotions ot the book. Tlie additions are such as to render it available and convenient 
on all occasions of public or private prayer. Thus, suitable praj'ers for the Forty Hours' Devotion, 
or the Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, for Sodalities and for various Occasions, taken from the 
most approved sources, have been introduced. In the selection of Hymns, those adapted to the 
solemn festivals of the ecclesiastical year have been added, as well as Canticles in honor of various 
Saints and Patrons. For the convenience of Sunday. Schools and Academies, the Vesper service, set 
to mnsic, together with the responses before and during High ^lass have been inserted. 

The Publi^sliers refer with pleasure to the illustrations, general arrangement and style of this Boole 
as an evidence of the care bestowed upon this edition. 

Under these circumstances and accompanied by the approbation of His Grace, the Most Eev. Arch- 
bishop, the publishers flatter themselves that a book m former years so well received, will prove 
highly acceptable, to those having the direction of yoiath, in its revised and enlarged form, and a 
valuable companion to young persons in the performance of their priv^ate devotion^ and on other 
occasions that may call them together for religious instruction or the exercises of piet}'. 

Nearly Ready y in a very neat volume^ price in cloth, $1, cl. gilt^ $1.50. 

THE TB UCE OF G OD, 
A Tale of the Eleyenth Century, by GEORGE H. MILES. 

I'reparing' fox^ Immecliate I*u.l)lication— I*i?ice 40 cts. eaclx. 

Uniform with the TWO CROWXS and LIZ I A: Recently Published, 

TWO NEW DRAMAS, FOR BOYS. 

ST, LOUIS IN CHAINS.— A Drama in Five Acts. From the French. 

The variety of the Characters, and the Introduction of Instrumental and Vocal Music, renders this 
Little Drama, well suited for College Exhibitions. 

THE EXPIATION. A Drama in Three Acts. From the French. 

This little Drama has been translated in the hope that it will partly supply a long felt want, and, that 
jt will be hailed with delight by those experienced in Dramatic Performances, who have often found 
it difficult to obtain one combining the two-fold advantages, of being produced at a low cost, and not 
being ditlficult to perform. 

MURPHY & CO., Publishers and Booksellers, Baltimore. 



Jlarcli, 1S7U 

I^^To the Rt. Rev. Bishops, and the Rev. Clergy of the U. S. 

Now Heady, the Second Revised Edition, 

mmm of matrimony, baptism it confirmation. 

Prepared by Order of the Xth Provincial Council of Baltimore. 

In Uoolcs of lOOO, ^O. 1300, ^r.SO. 3000, ^9 not. 

Matrimoniorum Registrum, Baptismorum Hegistrum* 

Oonlinnatomiii Reg-istniiii. 

Unifo7'm loith the above, [with Printed Headings only.) 
In Uoolcs orSOO pxges, S 4. 300 pa^os? ^S. J500 pagos, ^>7. 

Ad Meniem Patrum Concilii Provincialis Baltimorensis X. Cjncinnaiiim. 
Secunda et Eincndatn JEditio— These Registers, carefully prepared with printed forms in Latin, 
in conformity witli the Fumiula prescribed bij the Roman Ritual, are neatly and substantially bound 
in Books of a convenient size, uniform with our SERIES of CHURCH RECORDS. 

Approbatio 111"'- ac Rcv'°'- Arcblppiscopi Baltimorensis. 

Formula qua3 sequitur pro Registro Matrimoniorum, (Baptismorum) ad Concilii Balti- 
morensis Provincialis X. Patrum mentem concinnata quajque Formul* in Ritual i Ro- 
mano contentcB propc accodit, a Nobis pro Provinciie Nostra) ecclesiis probatur, et omni- 
bus quorum interest in Domino commendatur. 
Datum cxiedibus Nostris, Baltimora), in die Fcsto S. Jlatthife xVpostoli, A. D. 18G9. 
^^^^ MARTINUS JOANNES SPALDING, Archiep. Baltmorcnsis. 

CHURCH RECORDS,— Record of Baptisms, 31arriages, First Com~ 
tnuniorif ConfinnalionSf Intermenis, Reiv and Parish Records. 

Published with ihe Approbation of the Most Rev. Archbishop Spal-dixg. 

This SERIES pf CHURCH RECORDS, prepared by an eminent Clergyman, of great experience, with 
Printed Headings, are conveniently arranged for keeping Church Records, in such a manner as to 
save much time and labor to the Pastor, and affording ready facility for reference at all times. 

The Pew Books are arranged for keeping Accounts in the most simple manner, showing at a glance 
the state of eacli Pew-holder's aecoaat. They are put up in Books of 2, 3, 4 and 500 pages, and can be 
ordered to correspond to the nutn'jcr of Pews in a Church— a page being appropriated to each Pew. 
4®-This Series of 7 Books are Printed on Fine Paper. They ara uniformly and substantially bound, and may be 
had separately or in Setc, in Books of 200 pag3S, $4. 300 pages, $5, 400 pages, $6, 500 pages, $7, net. 
I5r^ of Extracts Troni. tlxo Opinions of tlic I?ross. 

Baptismal Register.— " We have received from 3Ies.srs. Murphy A; Co., some specimen pages of a. 
Baptismal Register, printed according to the wishes ot ihe Tenth Provincial Council cf Baltimore. 
We think tiiem a decided improvement upon some Registers that have been m use for some time. It 
is all very well to make the labor of the priest as light as possible, (and this is done in the present 
Registers.) but we should also bear in mind that the record of the Sacraments of the Church— of Bap- 
tism and iMairiinony especially, upon which so much depends— should not be kept like book-keeping 
by single entry, as is tiic case in some of the old Registers. The formula in the present Register is 
printed in Latin, and each separate Baptism has its proper place, and is not strung ahmg a line across 
two pages, with indications in English at the top. There are several pages in front of the Register, on 
which an alpliabctical index can easily be mad j. The Register for Marriages is on the same plan." 

Ave Maria. 

'•The Baptism and 3Iarriagc Registers, published by Messrs. Murphy & Co., according to the wishes 
of the Tenth Provincial Council o'f Baltimore, seem to meet with general approbation. They are a 
decided improvement. They are neatly printed and substantially bound ia books of convenient size. 
We feel great pleasure in recommending them to the clergy as the most complete books of their class 
that have come under our notice, and hope tliey will be generally adopted." Boston Pilot. 

Notice of Second Revised Edition. — "The suggestions made by editors and clergymen, seem to have 
led Messrs. Murphy & Co. to issue a new editiTm of the Registers. They are, certainly, a great accomo- 
dation, and their use will save time. Moreover, they answer every requisite, and for reference, the\'- 
are invaluable. We hope to see them adopted, and the great labor and great expenses of the publish- 
ers properly appreciated." Boston I Hot. 

"The best we have yet seen. The late war has elucidated one fact among many— the necessity of 
an accurate and well devised method of noting Baptisms and Marriages. Such a method is fully met 
by these Registers of Murphy & Co. Moreover, they have the sanction of the Fathers of the Tenth. 
Provincial Council of Baltimore." Brook'yn Catholic. 

*'Well worthy the notice of all clergymen who are in want of such books." Pittsburg Catholic.. 

"We think them well worthy the notice of all clergymen." Catholic Standard. 

"We have received specimen copies of these Registers, which have been prepared with a great deal 
of care and exactness in all essential details." OUholic Telegraph. 

The following, embodies the spirit of many similar Letters from Clergymen in different sections of the country:— 
"I have received the Registrum Matrimoniorum and Baptismorum, and it is indeed with great 
pleasure, that I shall recommend them wherever I can. I liardly think they need any recommenc a- 
tion, as every body who sees them, like them. I send P. O. Money Order, for the amount, with my 
thanks." JS^ Early oi dcrs, respectfully f-olicited. 




MURPHY & CO., Publidliers and Booksellers, Baltimore. 



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